Kevin Kisner: What I hated about Bryson DeChambeau’s British Open punishment

Kevin Kisner is livid.

After Bryson DeChambeau was assessed a two-stroke penalty for “improving the area of his intended swing” on Friday at the British Open, Kisner, NBC’s lead golf analyst, voiced his displeasure with DeChambeau’s punishment.  

Kisner, speaking on the “Fore Play Podcast” on Tuesday, argued that no official was close to the situation when it happened and that it’s unfair for someone to be punished strictly based on what was seen on camera. 

“I have a really hard time going back after rounds to penalize people based on them being on camera,” Kisner said on the podcast. “I don’t know if anybody else hit it over there, but if Jose Ballester hit it over there and did the same exact freaking thing, he’s not on camera and we’re not giving him a penalty, right?

“We have the capability to show every shot. We can watch these guys. If that’s [cameras] what we’re going to use as police, even though there’s a walking official in every group, I hate it. I hate having to go back on it.

“I hate that we’re looking at awkward camera angles to say he helped his intended swing. It didn’t look good, but I can’t be the one telling you that he should get a penalty.” 

The penalty was called when R&A officials determined DeChambeau illegally improved his lie in high grass on the fifth hole.

It moved him from 7-under par and one shot out of the lead to 5-under and tied for fifth. 

DeChambeau got into an argument at the fifth hole with rules officials. USA Today

Bryson DeChambeau participates in the British Open. AP Photo/Jon Super

He’d taken a bogey on the fifth hole before the ruling turned it into a triple-bogey.  Golfers were divided over the incident, as some sided with DeChambeau while others, notably Rory McIlroy, called out the American star for holding the tournament “hostage.”

At the end of the weekend, DeChambeau finished tied for 14th.

“An improvement means to alter one or more of the conditions affecting the stroke so that the player gains a potential advantage for the stroke,” Grant Moir, the R&A’s executive director of governance, said in a statement about the incident.

“Now, I’ll stress that this applies even when the action is accidental, as it was in Bryson’s case.”